1. Field
This disclosure relates to peripherals for multifunction peripherals.
2. Description of the Related Art
A multifunction peripheral (MFP) is a type of document processing device which is an integrated device providing at least two document processing functions, such as print, copy, scan and fax. In a document processing function, an input document (electronic or physical) is used to automatically produce a new output document (electronic or physical).
Documents may be physically or logically divided into pages. A physical document is paper or other physical media bearing information which is readable unaided by the typical human eye. An electronic document is any electronic media content (other than a computer program or a system file) that is intended to be used in either an electronic form or as printed output. Electronic documents may consist of a single data file, or an associated collection of data files which together are a unitary whole. Electronic documents will be referred to further herein as documents, unless the context requires some discussion of physical documents, which will be referred to by that name specifically.
In printing, the MFP automatically produces a physical document from an electronic document. In copying, the MFP automatically produces a physical document from a physical document. In scanning, the MFP automatically produces an electronic document from a physical document. In faxing, the MFP automatically transmits via fax an electronic document from an input physical document, which the MFP has also scanned, or from an input electronic document, which the MFP has converted to a fax format.
MFPs are often incorporated into corporate or other organization's networks, which also include various other workstations, servers and peripherals. An MFP may also provide remote document processing services to external or network devices.
MFPs and printers typically receive documents for which physical document output is requested encoded with a page description language (PDL) in such a way that the physical document resulting from a print request very closely resembles (or exactly matches) the formatting of the electronic document received. PDL is a way of describing the content of a document along with the form it appears (font, position, emphasis, etc.). Images may also be incorporated, positioned, and sized within an electronic document and the associated PDL. The MFP or printer uses the PDL to generate print data, and it is the print data which is used at the electronic level to drive a print engine.
Typically, PDL is generated by a printer driver on a computer based upon the make and model of printer (or MFP) to which a print request is to be directed. Some printers and MFPs may be somewhat independent of print drivers—capable of accepting base document formats, such as Microsoft® Word® documents and outputting a physical document directly from that document without the use of an independent print driver. Still other formats, like bitmap and raster image formats closely akin to printer-native formats, may describe electronic documents in such a way that they natively describe the layout of the document.
Over time, new PDL formats have been devised and other PDL formats have become less-favored. For example, early PDL formats may have fewer options, require the transmission of more data to accomplish the same task or, otherwise, merely be deprecated to be replaced by a newer, similar PDL. Examples of various PDLs and raster image formats (for ease of reference, these will be referred to collectively as “PDLs” or “PDL formats” or “printable data streams”) include printer control language XL (PCL XL), portable document format (PDF), (2) extensible paper specification (XPS), (3) Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) format, (4) tagged image file format (TIFF), (4) portable network graphics (PNG) format, (5) printer command language 6 (PCL 6), (6) printer command language 5 (PCL 5) and (7) PostScript. The PDLs are distinct from computer formats such as Microsoft® Word® documents in that the electronic document formats are capable of being directly interpreted and output by printing devices capable of interpreting those formats without conversion to a more printer-friendly form.
Because PDL formats have evolved over time, older printers may or may not be capable of printing from some or all of the possible PDL formats. For example, an older printer may be capable of accepting PCL XL electronic documents and outputting a physical document. However, sending a JPEG or PCL 6 document to that same printer may have no effect or result in garbled document output. Likewise, lower-function printers may lack the ability to process certain PDL formats.
Throughout this description, elements appearing in figures are assigned three-digit reference designators, where the most significant digit is the figure number where the element is introduced and the two least significant digits are specific to the element. An element that is not described in conjunction with a figure may be presumed to have the same characteristics and function as a previously-described element having the same reference designator.